Usman Rashid v Lloyds Bank plc — 2023

The claimant worked for Lloyds Bank plc and was dismissed following disciplinary allegations concerning a deliberate cough towards a colleague during the early Covid pandemic, WhatsApp messages and barbecue photographs causing concern about lockdown compliance, lone working contrary to an instruction and then saying he had worked at Speke, and a comment wishing that someone in the office would catch Covid and die. The respondent accepted that the claimant was disabled by asthma and stress, anxiety and depression, and that coughing was a symptom of asthma, but did not accept that he suffered from panic attacks.

The tribunal found that the respondent dismissed the claimant for conduct, a potentially fair reason. It found that the respondent genuinely believed the misconduct had occurred, had reasonable grounds for that belief, carried out a reasonable investigation and fair process, and that dismissal was within the range of reasonable responses. The tribunal noted the claimant had accepted during the internal process that he had lied about where he worked overtime and had intended to do so.

The disability discrimination complaints were dismissed. The tribunal found the claimant's colleagues made allegations because they had witnessed misconduct, and that dismissal was because of misconduct rather than disability. It found the claimant's asthma did not cause him to cough deliberately at people, and that he lied to Joanne Cassidy because he did not want to get into trouble for contravening the instruction, not because of a panic attack. The harassment complaint was also dismissed because the tribunal found Joanne Cassidy asked where he had worked overtime and, in a separate incident, raised her voice to wake him while maintaining social distancing; this was not harassment and was not related to disability.